


Love of a Good Man

by Maidenjedi



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Episode Related
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-06-08
Updated: 2002-06-08
Packaged: 2019-06-19 09:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15507315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maidenjedi/pseuds/Maidenjedi
Summary: He wasn't useless after all.





	Love of a Good Man

He stood there like an idiot, letting Willow blast him with all her might. He was looking at his best friend and hardly recognized her, and part of him cringed at the sight of this woman he had been unable to save. He had let all of his friends down, hadn't he? They all seemed to think so. And this angry, tattered version of his best friend was proof.

He was useless, and Willow was telling him so.

He took it, every blast of power and rage she threw at him, and just told her "I love you."

She flinched.

"I love you."

He thought about kindergarten and the yellow crayon and how he was lost to her even then. Willow was his girl, the one woman who always understood him and always backed him up. They could love other people and still have this to come back to, this friendship and this bond.

She was losing it, losing a little of the power. He tried again.

"I love you."

Were those tears standing in her eyes?

"I love you."

She crumpled, and he went to her. He was bleeding and sore; she had hurt him. But he went to her, his Willow.

Stooped low on the ground, he held her close, tightly as if he wanted to absorb her. He wanted to take the hurt away, make these tears stop.

But the way she clasped him, twisting his shirt in her small, feminine fingers, told him he had done his job. He saved her, just by loving her. Standing firm and remembering the girl she really was instead of the girl she had tried to become. She would've slipped for good if he hadn't come to hold her together.

Good to know he wasn't useless after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Glass Onion](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Glass_Onion), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Glass Onion’s collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/glassonion/profile).


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